Critical feminists have argued that research on women and gender is not sufficiently 'global' in its representation of scholars and perspectives. We draw on these works to argue that the scholarship on women, gender and politics does not sufficiently consider the effects of the global order in the Global South. We propose the adoption of a 'global lens' to address this gap. We further examine the representation of South-based scholars by analysing leading women, gender and politics journals, and find that they are severely under-represented as authors. We propose steps to address this underrepresentation and to decolonise the scholarship.
AbstractThe question of whether social movements can catalyze change has preoccupied researchers but an understanding ofhowsuch change can be created is equally important. Specifically, there has been little investigation of how women's movements engage in the process ofimplementationof women's rights laws. We use a case study of Ghana's Domestic Violence Coalition to examine the challenges that movements face in the policy implementation process. The Domestic Violence Coalition, a collective of women's rights organizations, was instrumental to the passage of Ghana's Domestic Violence Act in 2007. Our study investigates the coalition's subsequent attempts to influence the act's implementation. Drawing from the social movement literature, we apply an analytical framework consisting of three internal factors (strategies, movement infrastructure, and framing) and two external factors (political context and support of allies) that have mediated the coalition's impact on implementation. We find that changes in movement infrastructure are most significant in explaining the coalition's relative ineffectiveness, as these changes adversely affect its ability to employ effective strategies and take advantage of a conducive political context and the presence of allies. This article advances the literature on rights advocacy by women's movements by analyzing the challenge of translating success in policy adoption to implementation and explaining why women's movements may have less impact on implementation processes.
1. Democracy and good governance : a sine-qua-non to political stability and socio-economic development in Africa / Vladimir Antwi-Danso. - 2. Constitutionalism and democratic governance in Africa : toward enforcement of policy instruments / Boni Yao Gebe. - 3. Multi-party democracy and conflict management in Africa : the case of Ghana / Ken Ahorsu. - 4. A decade of the African Union and the quest for good governance and democracy in Africa (2002-2012) / Julianna Appiah. - 5. Global governance of collective challenges : multi-level governance networks in EU-ECOWAS co-governance framework / Ken Ahorsu & Joachim Mugyenzi. - 6. Governance and the pathology of human security in Africa / Philip Attuquayefio. - 7. A dark side of democratization in Africa : displacement of population and open door asylum in Kenya and South Africa / Amanda Coffie. - 8. Violence against women and women's access to justice in post-conflict Liberia / Peace Medie. - 9. In our father's name in our motherland : the politics of women's political participation in Ghana / Linda Darkwa. - 10. Pursing development in post-conflict Sierra Leone / Afua Yakohene
African Affairs' is the top journal in African Studies and has been for some time. This book draws together some of the most influential, important, and thought provoking articles published in its pages over the last decade. In doing so, it collates essential cutting-edge research on Africa and makes it easily available for students, teachers, and researchers alike. 0'The African Affairs Reader' is broken down into four sections that cover some of the biggest themes and questions facing the continent today, including: the African State, the Political Economy of Development, Africa's Relationship with the World, and Elections, Representation & Democracy. Within each section, articles deal with some of the most significant recent trends and events, such as the prospects for democratization in Ghana and Nigeria, the factors underpinning Rwanda's economic success, the rise of political corruption in South Africa, the spread of the drugs trade, the struggle against gender based violence, and the growing influence of China. Each section is introduced by a new purpose-written essay by the journal's editors that explains the evolution of the wider debate, highlights key contributions, and suggests new ways in which the discussion can be taken forward. Taken together, the essays and articles included in the volume provide both a coherent introduction to the study of Africa and a compelling commentary on the current state of play on the continent